Whilst the US and its allies are teetering on the edge of military action in Syria, the DSEI arms fair is happy to arm either side. When it comes to world wide arm sales, it’s all about the powerful making a killing.

The UK is pouring arms into Saudi Arabia – chief sponsor of the Syrian jihadists. There will be a Saudi delegation shopping for military equipment at Excel this week, whilst Rosoboron Export, Russia’s state arms export agency which supplies weapons to Assad, will be there as well. And, if Assad was indeed the one using the chemical weapons, the fact is that the UK government also approved the sale of the necessary chemicals to the Syrian regime.

On Thursday September 12th, assorted DSEI arms dealers are gathering at the Troxy to raise money for wounded British soldiers by hosting a boxing competition by the Army Boxing Association and charity auction. We say that there’d be a lot less wounded squaddies if the arms traders stuffing their faces weren’t selling weapons to anyone who’ll buy them.

Squaddies get some sort of choice about going to war. The inhabitants of the countries where the arms are ending up don’t! In the end, the only people getting fat from the arms trade (£2500 a table anyone?) are the arms dealers themselves.